The Riders imploded on offence, defence and special teams en route to being blown out 35-10 by the host Winnipeg Blue Bombers on Saturday.

The Riders were so badly outplayed that the score actually flattered the Green and White. Slightly less than five minutes into the third quarter, the Riders trailed 35-3.

This was a Blue Bombers team that was missing the CFL’s leading rusher (Andrew Harris), their No. 1 quarterback (Matt Nichols) and two starting receivers (Lucky Whitehead and Nic Demski).

“They came hungrier than us, we failed in three phases of the game, and they embarrassed us,” Riders quarterback Cody Fajardo said. “It’s a very humbling feeling to come in here and get our butts whipped.”

The failures started early, especially for the defence after a short-lived promising start. Winnipeg was backed up to its 10-yard line after an illegal block on the opening kickoff.

Quarterback Chris Streveler was then sacked for a seven-yard loss by middle linebacker Solomon Elimimian.

Streveler then broke through on a 17-yard quarterback draw that resulted in a first down.

The Winnipeg quarterback capped the 15-play, 100-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run that, combined with Justin Medlock’s convert, gave Winnipeg a 7-0 lead at 8:33 of the first quarter. The Blue Bombers would not relinquish the lead.

Streveler threw for 126 yards and two touchdowns without an interception while rushing for 70 yards and two touchdowns. It was easily the quarterback’s best all-around performance since Nichols was sidelined.

“The guy is dynamic,” said Riders safety Mike Edem. “(The media) said he couldn’t throw the ball and he threw a dime to the running back (Johnny Augustine). He was a great thrower when they needed him and he’s a great quarterback.”

Fajardo, by contrast, was under constant pressure by the Blue Bombers’ defence. He completed 16 of 24 passes for 196 yards and had five carries for 46 yards. However, he didn’t throw a touchdown pass, was intercepted once and sacked four times.

Fajardo scored on an eight-yard run in the third quarter, but the game was out of hand by then.

“Sometimes this is good for a team to go out there, have a game like that, and understand that you’re not invincible,” Fajardo said.

Most recently, Janarion Grant scored on a 72-yard punt return that was part of a 21-point second-quarter explosion by the Blue Bombers. Saskatchewan has allowed three punt returns for touchdowns, one on a kickoff and another on a missed field goal.

Defensively, the Blue Bombers had something to prove after the Labour Day Classic, in which the Riders won 19-17 on Brett Lauther’s 26-yard field goal without any time on the clock to pull out Saskatchewan’s sixth consecutive win.

On Saturday, the Riders generated 67 yards of total offence in the first half and had a total of 267 yards. Many of those yards were produced when the game was out of hand.

The result leaves the Blue Bombers (9-4) in first place in the West. Winnipeg is two games ahead of the Riders and the surging Calgary Stampeders, who are tied for second place with 7-4 records.

The loss also kept the Riders from winning the season series, with the third game set for Oct. 5 at Mosaic Stadium.

The Riders now have to regroup before playing host to the Montreal Alouettes on Saturday. The Alouettes are riding a three-game winning streak after beating the B.C. Lions 21-16 on Friday.

“We can’t just turn our back on this game and pretend that it didn’t happen or the same thing is going to occur,” Edem cautioned. “We have to look in the mirror and clean things up and understand why we lost this game.”